Starting a new business is usually something that the entrepreneur is very passionate about doing, and he or she puts a lot of work in the new endeavor. Unfortunately, criminals have found a way to prey on unsuspecting small business owners who are not as well versed in the legal paperwork to register the company.
Often, criminals will research what new companies are being formed in a specific area so that the criminal can prey on the new business owners. The form that this often takes is that the entrepreneur receives mail that looks as if it’s from the government. Usually, the imposters will go to great lengths to ensure that the correspondence looks official, even creating a seal that looks like it’s from the government, too.
When you receive this spoof mail, it may claim that you must pay more to have your company officially registered. The goal of the criminal is one of two things, either they want to collect a small amount of money from you which they will repeat countless times to other business owners, or they will attempt to extract from you your bank information so that they can reap the benefits of you hard work from your new business by emptying the account.
What can you do to prevent yourself from falling victim to something that looks official? Educate your employees on what to look for. If you educate them on what steps that have been taken, and you let them know that perhaps something that looks official is possibly a dangerous spoof, you can prevent an employee from paying a fee that was never owed. And although online banking makes executing transactions remarkably easy, it is essential to be diligent about reviewing all completed transactions. Something may come up that you don’t recognize that could reveal a successful spoof.
When it comes to starting a business, we encourage you to follow your dreams. Just prepare for the ride by being informed about what steps you need to take to ensure that you fill out all the proper paperwork, but nothing more than you should.
LibertyID is the leader in identity theft restoration, having restored the identities of tens of thousands of individuals without fail. If you retain personal information on your customers, now it is the time to get data breach planning and a response program in place with our LibertyID for Small Business data breach preparation program. With LibertyID Enterprise you can now add value to existing products, services, or relationships by covering your customers, employees, or members with LibertyID’s fully managed identity theft restoration service—at a fraction of our retail price—with no enrollment and no file sharing. We have no direct communication with your group members–until they need us.
Call us now for a no-obligation proposal at 844-411-LIBERTY (844-411-5423).